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EDITORS’ NOTES

Twelve years after their landmark debut album, Turn on the Bright Lights, NYC’s Interpol crafted their next potential career-defining moment with their fifth album, 2014’s El Pintor. It's their first without founding bassist Carlos Dengler; frontman Paul Banks takes over his duties. This album contains some of the best songs since Interpol's debut. “All the Rage Back Home” slips into Interpol gear, with all their bright electronics guiding them, while “My Desire” follows with sounds that emerge and transform before our ears mid-verse. Banks takes his basswork seriously and drives “Anywhere” to dramatic heights along with guitarist Daniel Kessler, who works overtime coloring in the sounds here and everywhere. “Same Town, New Story” and “My Blue Supreme” cap what would have been the perfect album side in the LP age. If you consider “Everything Is Wrong” the start of the album’s second liftoff, the band again make it into space in good standing.

EDITORS’ NOTES

Twelve years after their landmark debut album, Turn on the Bright Lights, NYC’s Interpol crafted their next potential career-defining moment with their fifth album, 2014’s El Pintor. It's their first without founding bassist Carlos Dengler; frontman Paul Banks takes over his duties. This album contains some of the best songs since Interpol's debut. “All the Rage Back Home” slips into Interpol gear, with all their bright electronics guiding them, while “My Desire” follows with sounds that emerge and transform before our ears mid-verse. Banks takes his basswork seriously and drives “Anywhere” to dramatic heights along with guitarist Daniel Kessler, who works overtime coloring in the sounds here and everywhere. “Same Town, New Story” and “My Blue Supreme” cap what would have been the perfect album side in the LP age. If you consider “Everything Is Wrong” the start of the album’s second liftoff, the band again make it into space in good standing.